Animal Figurines Found in Ancient Israel Temple

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Just outside of Jerusalem, archaeologists have discovered a cache
of vessels and figurines inside a 2,750-year-old temple that
could provide a rare window into religious rituals of the period,
the Israeli Antiquities Authority (IAA) announced.

The finds were uncovered at
Tel Motza, an archaeological site being excavated ahead of
the expansion of Highway 1, the main road connecting Jerusalem
and Tel Aviv. The dig revealed part of a large building, believed
to be a temple, and objects that date back to the era of the
First Temple, which, according to the Hebrew Bible, was
constructed by
King Solomon in the 10th century B.C. and then destroyed 400
years later.

"The ritual building at Tel Motza is an unusual and striking
find, in light of the fact that there are hardly any remains of
ritual buildings of the period in Judaea at the time of the First
Temple," the directors of the dig, Anna Eirikh, Hamoudi Khalaily
and Shua Kisilevitz, said in a statement.

"The walls of the structure are massive, and it includes a wide,
east-facing entrance, conforming to the tradition of temple
construction in the ancient Near East: the rays of the sun rising
in the east would have illuminated the object placed inside the
temple first, symbolizing the divine presence within," the
archaeologists added. [ 5
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They said that they found a square structure they believe was an
altar in the temple courtyard, and nearby they discovered
fragments of vessels that were typically used in rituals, such as
chalices, as well as figurines of human heads and harnessed
animals, which still "require extensive research."

It's rare to find artifacts from this early monarchic period in
buildings that appear to be
temples, equipped ritual platforms, the researchers say.
Similar objects found elsewhere have been attributed to domestic
rituals.

"The finds recently discovered at Tel Motza provide rare
archaeological evidence for the existence of temples and ritual
enclosures in the Kingdom of Judah in general, and in the
Jerusalem region in particular, prior to the religious reforms
throughout the kingdom at the end of the monarchic period (at the
time of Hezekiah and Isaiah), which abolished all ritual sites,
concentrating ritual practices solely at the Temple in
Jerusalem," the site's directors said.